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Nation left with 27 friends after Nauru defection

"China has often issued empty checks, only to find itself unable to keep its promises." Katharine Chang, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Government officials yesterday urged Nauru not to be taken in by Beijing after the president from the tiny Pacific island -- without the backing of his Cabinet -- sealed an agreement in Hong Kong establishing diplomatic ties with China and turning its back on Taiwan.

"Nauru's acting president Remy Namaduk said he and the majority of the Cabinet members disagreed with the president's decision," said Katharine Chang (張小月), spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a press conference yesterday afternoon.

"He said he has tried to persuade the president to think twice, asking us to give them some time," Chang said, declining to announce any decision to sever diplomatic ties with Nauru.

The press conference was held hours after President of Nauru Rene Harris signed a joint communique with the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhou Wenzhong (周文重) in Hong Kong around noon yesterday.

The China-Nauru deal was sealed on the basis of China's promise to offer Nauru US$60 million in financial aid as well as the promise to repay debt worth US$77 million owed to the General Electric Co, Chang said.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), in his inauguration speech as DPP chairman yesterday evening, lashed out at Beijing's move to lure Taiwan's diplomatic allies into its fold by playing what he termed "money diplomacy."

Chang said Taipei is "unwilling" to go ahead with what she called a "cash competition" with China in order to secure diplomatic ties with the 21km2 nation with an estimated population of around 11,845.

"Nauru has faced onerous financial difficulties and has made quite a lot requests to us. We are willing to help ... but we won't accept any demand that goes beyond what we consider the reasonable scale," Chang said.

According to the CIA World Factbook, Nauru is burdened with external debts of about US$33.3 million.

During a meeting in Australia on June 15 with Peter Cheng (鄭博久), director-general of the ministry's department of East Asian and Pacific affairs, Harris admitted that the country's financial coffers were nearly empty, with his salary unpaid for the past six months.

Chang urged Harris to reconsider his decision to switch recognition to Beijing. "China has often made promises, only to find itself unable to keep them," Chang said.

Chang said the foreign ministry has known of various previous contacts between Nauru and China in recent years and knew about Harris' trip to Hong Kong.

But she admitted that Taipei was in the dark about the signing until China's state-run Xinhua news agency revealed the episode yesterday.

Harris' move in Hong Kong also took the rest of the Cabinet members in Nauru by surprise, officials said.

"They would not have thought that it could happen. Harris was on leave in Australia to cure his eye aliment. And then he informed the Cabinet of his decision to fly to Hong Kong to have clothes tailored before flying to Malaysia for vacation," an insider said.

On July 17, Harris phoned Namaduk to reveal China's promise to offer financial assistance to Nauru in exchange for switching ties, government sources said.

Harris also asked Namaduk to convene an emergency Cabinet meeting to endorse his decision to take up Beijing's offer, a motion later denied by the Cabinet, the insider said.

Chang stressed that the issue still hung in the balance as internal disagreements within the Nauru government over the decision to cut ties with Taiwan have yet to be resolved.

As of 11pm local time in Nauru, Namaduk and Nauru's finance minister, Godfrey Thoma, were still gathering at Taipei's embassy in the tiny pacific state, trying to persuade Harris to change his mind, government sources said.

"We have to watch closely whether Harris will fly to Beijing, or he whether he'll go to Malaysia to receive [medical] treatment," the insider said.

Nauru government officials were not available yesterday for comment.

After being contacted by Taipei's representative Kuo Sheng-ming (郭聖明) in Nauru yesterday, Namaduk sent Harris a letter expressing the Cabinet's reservations about China's move to attach conditions -- namely severing ties with Taipei -- to its offer of the cash assistance and help paying back debt.

"Any country that wishes to forge friendly relations with Nauru must do so without any conditions attached to the friendship. To ask for such would seriously undermine Nauru's sovereignty," the letter stated.
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